Iain Troup and his son Cameron who were stranded on a chair lift (Image: Daily Record)

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A FRIGHTENED six-year-old trapped on a chairlift asked his dad: “Are we going to die? Are we going to fall?”

Little Cameron and dad Iain Troup were caught up in Tuesday’s terrifying chairlift accident at the Lecht ski centre that left five kids and an adult injured.

The father and son were among 30 people stranded 30 feet up when the lift stopped after the accident. Iain said: “All of a sudden Cameron was crying, ‘Are we going to die daddy? Are we going to fall?’

“So we started singing Fireman Sam songs even though the worst was running through my mind.”

Iain, 33, of Kintore, Aberdeenshire, added: “It was the wee fella’s first snowboarding lesson and we decided to go on the chairlift before heading home.

“We were planning to stay on and go all the way round.

“The chairlift started shaking. It was bouncing up and down.

“One of the chairs ahead had come off one of the pylon runners and all the chairs were bunched up.

“We must have been 20 to 30 feet up.

“Cameron was terrified and crying. I was trying to tell him something was wrong and it might take a while to fix it.

“Then fire engines and an ambulance arrived and I had to tell him someone might have hurt themselves.

“The cable was dipping down and two people in front of us shouted that cars had hit the ground and ‘it wasn’t good’.”

The chairlift at the Lecht ski centre near Tomintoul where an accident occurred (Image: Andrew Milligan)

Iain tried to distract Cameron by talking about a holiday he’d enjoyed at Center Parcs.

But he said: “He was getting very, very cold. His lips were going blue.”

Iain went on: “After about half an hour, the emergency services had tended to the people who were injured. They came to us and said they would get to us next.

“They asked if we were OK and I said the wee man was getting very cold so one of the instructors threw his jacket up to keep Cameron warm.”

When Iain and Cameron were rescued, they were taken to the ski centre cafe and given soup, hot chocolate and cake. They also spoke to police.

As he prepared to drive home after the ordeal, Iain noticed the temperature in his car was -3C.

The six casualties in the accident at the centre in Aberdeenshire were thrown 20ft and suffered possible leg and spinal injuries. Two of the children were allowed home from Aberdeen Children’s Hospital yesterday.

Two more youngsters and an adult remained “satisfactory” in hospital in Aberdeen.

Another child was being treated at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Poor weather at the Lecht was hampering investigations of the accident.

Health and Safety officials could not reach the site because of snow.

Eyewitness Callum Johnston-Harman, 15, said chairs became jammed together at one of the pylons on the lift.

15-year-old Calum Johnston from Aberdeenshire who was caught up in the accident (Image: Derek Ironside/Newsline Scotland)

He added: “Three chairlifts built up, then released and kept going. Then another three built up and went on again.

“Then it stopped, and there was a crunching sound as the cable came off the pylon. The second lot of three chairs just fell to the ground.”

The Lecht will remain open for ski-ing but the chairlift will be out of action.

A spokeswoman said: “There is no suggestion as to what caused the accident until we get the Health and Safety here.

“The centre will be carrying out an investigation as well.”

The spokeswoman said everyone stranded on the chairlift was rescued within an hour and 20 minutes.